Climb to Cloud Nine
by hmweasley
Summary: Hermione hasn't liked the timer on her wrist since she was little and fell in love with the love stories of the days before the timers, when people found their soulmate on their own. When she realizes that her timer will zero out on the day she starts Hogwarts, she resolves to ignore it. Soulmate AU.


Hermione had hated the idea of soulmates since she was little and became enthralled with stories of the days before the timers, when people found their soulmates without any help.

Others could talk all they wanted about how, in those days, far fewer people were successful in their search, but Hermione would have rather faced those odds. If she was successful, the love that she'd found would be all the sweeter for the effort it had taken to get there.

Still, she had the timer like everyone else, and she watched as it counted down to the day she was destined to meet her soulmate. She would be lying if she said her heart didn't beat quicker at times as she thought about what he might be like.

When McGonagall arrived and revealed that Hermione was a witch who had a place secured for her at Hogwarts, the last thing on Hermione's mind was her timer, but then her mum had mentioned her finding her soulmate at Hogwarts and Hermione had done the math.

Her timer would reach zero at midnight on September 1st. On her first day of Hogwarts, she would meet countless people, and one of them would be her soulmate. But with so many new faces, it wouldn't be easy to figure out who her timer was leading her towards.

She resolved once again that she just wouldn't care. She would make friends, and if one of them was her soulmate, she'd figure it out for herself in time. She could have her wish that her timer didn't dictate everything about her love story.

* * *

The air was growing warmer the following spring when Hermione first heard her new friends talk about their timers.

She'd come out on the grounds with Harry and Ron to take advantage of a nice day when they didn't have much homework, and they'd wound up laying on their backs pointing out shapes in the clouds.

Hermione couldn't stop giggling at the images the boys were able to see. She, meanwhile, was nowhere near as good at the game. Most of the time, she couldn't see anything but mishappened blobs until Ron or Harry pointed out a cloud and helped her trace the image they saw.

"That one looks like a dragon," Ron said, raising his hand to point.

The action allowed his sleeve to slip just far enough that the zeros of his timer were visible. Hermione was curious despite her chosen indifference towards the timers, but she never would have asked him about it. Harry, however, had also caught sight of it and had no such qualms about discussing it.

"Your timer has zeroed out?" he asked, propping himself up on his elbow to better look at Ron.

"Yeah," Ron said, tugging his sleeve back down to cover it. His ears turned a light shade of pink. "My day was September 1st, which is probably the worst day ever to be honest. We met loads of people. Who knows who it was."

"You're kidding," Harry said, letting out a short laugh. "My day was September 1st too."

Ron laughed and sat up, prompting Hermione to do the same though she had little desire to be part of the conversation.

"I guess we're in the same boat then," Ron said.

"I'd say maybe we're soulmates, but that doesn't feel right."

Harry's voice tilted upwards at the end as if he was going to discover that Ron disagreed with him, but Ron shrugged and waved the possibility off.

"Nah. I don't think so. You know, even my little sister Ginny's timer zeroed out on September 1st. Can you believe that? I wonder if she met anyone on the platform after I left. I don't know how I feel about my sister's soulmate being someone older."

Hermione noticed that Harry was considering that information with greater seriousness than Ron had intended him too, but the possibility of Harry and Ginny being soulmates hadn't occurred to Ron. And neither Harry nor Hermione saw fit to point out the possibility, though Hermione could tell that Harry was seriously considering it.

"What about you, Hermione?" Ron asked, turning to look at her as she froze. "When will your timer zero out?"

She kept her face blank and shrugged.

"It doesn't matter. I don't like the timers."

Harry and Ron fell quiet, but she didn't miss the looks they sent each other when they thought she had turned her attention back to the clouds.

They'd suspect that she was one of the rare ones whose timer contained zeroes from the moment it was received or that she was one of the sad ones who'd already met their soulmate only for them to leave too soon. It's what everyone tended to think when you voiced negative feelings towards the timers, but she saw no reason to correct them. As long as they thought that, they wouldn't bother her about the subject anymore.

And they certainly wouldn't know how much she dwelled over Ron's timer zeroing out on the same day as hers.

* * *

Hermione could still feel Ron's lips on hers as she laid in the grass and stared at the clouds. She wasn't the only person who had come out to the grounds since the battle had ended, but the others gave her space that they sensed she needed.

When she felt a presence beside her, she knew it was Ron without having to look. She held out her hand to him, and he took it, entwining their fingers together. Hermione was very aware that she'd offered him the hand where her zeroed out timer was written on her wrist.

Ron held their hands above them, prompting them both to look at the way their fingers intertwined and the way Hermione's sleeve carefully came down to cover her wrist.

"I've never seen your timer," Ron said quietly, voice trembling slightly.

Hermione reached up and tugged down her sleeve, revealing the zeros. Ron observed it for a moment, turning her arm gently to the side, before speaking.

"When did it zero out?"

"September 1st, 1991."

Ron drew in a sharp breath before sitting up and turning to face her. Hermione followed suit, burying her fingers in the grass to anchor herself.

"So it is you," Ron said. "I've been falling in love with you for seven years, and the whole time, I thought you couldn't be my soulmate because your timer had already zeroed out or something. I couldn't figure why I loved you so much if you weren't the one, but you _are_."

Hermione tried to smile, but it was hard when Ron still wasn't. She'd known for a long time that he wouldn't take her concealment of some of the facts well when he discovered it. If it hadn't been for the war, perhaps she would have given in far sooner.

"Ever since I was little, I've hated the timers," she said. "I wanted a real love story, where someone realized they loved me without needing a timer to tell them. Then my timer zeroed out on our first day at Hogwarts, and I had no idea who it could be. When you and Harry were talking about your timers that day in first year, I knew it might be you, but I was so adamant at the time that I didn't want to rely on the timers that I couldn't bring myself to say anything."

Ron was still staring at her, mouth hanging open, so she continued.

"It was fourth year when I was completely sure that you were my soulmate, but by then, the thought of telling you I'd kept my timer from you made me nervous. Then Voldemort came back at the end of the year, and it never felt right after that. I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize," Ron said quietly, voice cracking. "I just… We've been through so much over the past few years—over the past few days even—and I don't want to get angry over anything right now. None of it matters. What matters is that we're soulmates, and I love you, Hermione. I really do. If you wanted someone to fall in love with you without the timer, you got your wish because I was prepared to tell you that I didn't care about the goddamn timer if yours didn't match mine."

He broke off, swiping hastily at his eyes, and Hermione's own eyes stung as she reached out to catch one of his tears as it slipped down his cheek. He pulled her in for a kiss, and Hermione went easily, soaking in the warmth she felt from having Ron close.

She was sure, without a shadow of a doubt, that they would have found each other with or without the timers, and that was all she had ever hoped for.

* * *

 **Prompts:**

 **Hogwarts Challenges and Assignments**

Seasonal Challenge - Air Element: (word) cloud

Seasonal Challenge - Audrey's Dessert Challenge: caramel filling - soulmate AU

Word count: 1,472


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